Bright Eyes' Latest Reminds Us of Conor Oberst's Greatness
By Caleb Peck
PC: Danny Cohen
Imagine who you were at 13-years-old. If you had seen me back then, you would have noticed a chubby kid wearing neon basketball shorts and those Nike T-shirts with the big block lettered phrases. You, the person reading this, might’ve been deep in their emo phase, or perhaps obsessing over Doctor Who (or, maybe even both). Pretty much everyone on the planet should be embarrassed of who they were as an 8th grader. Everyone except Conor Oberst.
At 13, Oberst released his first cassette, Water, through his local record label, Lumberjack Records (the predecessor to Saddle Creek, the label which would go on to feature Bright Eyes). Despite being a child at the time, Oberst managed to create something that is incredible by 13-year-old standards, and still damn impressive for adult standards, too. Tracks like “College,” a ballad to his brother who was leaving for school, express an incredible depth of maturity and emotional awareness.
Somehow, his following release, Here’s to Special Treatment, is even better. The EP is filled with childishly raw vocals, complex lyricism, and fast-paced guitar chords that are just fucking unreal for a kid that young. Whenever I listen to prepubescent Oberst, I must ask myself the question, “How the fuck could he have been better at music at that age than I ever will be at anything?”
But what’s even more impressive than becoming an indie-folk legend as a teenager, is sustaining that legacy for 27 years. Down In The Weeds, Where the World Once Was, Bright Eyes’ (Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott) first album in nine years, is a continuation of Conor Oberst’s genius as a man who has now spread his musical gift across 4 different decades.
This newest release holds many of the same qualities that made albums like I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning cult classics. Once again, Oberst dug into the never-ending well of heart-wrenching concepts and esoteric-yet-meaningful lyrics he keeps in his backyard. Stand-out track “Mariana Trench,” for example, contemplates the infinitesimally small size of humans in the landscape of our world, and “Persona Non Grata” tells the story of troubled lovers in New York. Both ideas may come across as familiar to Bright Eyes listeners, but they are now juxtaposed against a very matured sound.
"Look up at that Everest
Look down in that Mariana Trench
Look now as the crumbling 405 falls down
When the big one hits"
- “Mariana Trench”
Down In The Weeds is highly produced by Bright Eyes standards, with Oberst’s poignant lyrics — that once would have been accompanied by just an acoustic and perhaps some horns or violins — found amongst calm synths backgrounds, low guitars, and garnished with pianos. The sounds are full and deep, swelling with the progression of the songs, and no longer quite as reminiscent of the low-fi anarchist-playing-guitar-on-his-front-porch style found in albums past.
Despite this shift, there are a few stripped-down moments. For example, the first half of “Just Once in Awhile” is simplistic and sweet; another track, “Pan and Broom,” Oberst himself describes as being made around “a rinky-dink drum machine sound and the kind of broken-keyboard sound that Nate is making.” While songs like these are the outliers against the broad sounds that reverberate through the record, they still manage to fit into the scheme of the album.
In general, Bright Eyes is no stranger to switching styles: Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (2005), released right after one of their most stripped album, brought a much more electronic sound; Cassadega (2007) added elements of western folk and country; and The People’s Key (2011) was the closest they’ve ever gotten to pop. That said, the band’s ability to create new musical contexts for Oberst’s singing is nothing short of impressive. With every album, it seems as if they take on a new challenge, making slight shifts to avoid repetition, while still expressing mastery. For the last 27 years, Conor Oberst, and Bright Eyes, have built their legacy as one of the greatest modern folk acts and Down In The Weeds, Where the World Once Was is just another reminder.
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